At WWDC, Apple announced its plan to move from Intel chips to ARM based Apple silicon. The complete transition to homemade chips will take around two years. However, the first Mac with Apple silicon is scheduled to release sometime in late 2020.
MacBook Air is the most obvious machine that needs an ARM based chip. The current generation MacBook Air suffers from serious heating issues because of its thin chassis. It’s important to note that not all users have complained about heat issues as only pro-grade software invokes such a condition.
A new era of laptops
The main user base of MacBook Air is users who require a machine for web browsing, streaming content, document writing, and other similar lightweight works. However, the machine can also be used for light professional work as well, such as Xcode development, video editing, photo editing, etc.
While the MacBook Air is an excellent machine, hardware experts have reported that the internal design of the machine is not practical. The fan inside the laptop is reportedly not connected to the heat sink and it is simply just blowing air.
The advantage of using ARM chips is that they don’t strictly require a fan as they do not get as hot as Intel. Apple silicon is based on ARM architecture similar to the A-series chips the company uses in its iPhones and iPads.
The current generation MacBook Air design can certainly use ARM chips as it will eliminate the need for a fan. Benchmark scores of some A-series chips have already shown that they are somewhat faster than their Intel counterparts. During the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company showcased real world performance of its A-series chips in a Mac machine.
Apple has already begun shipping Macs equipped with ARM chips to some developers. It won’t be long before we see ARM based consumer Macs.